The lawmakers call on Congress to "reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking functions in effect under the Glass–Steagall Act and that would prohibit commercial banks and bank holding companies from investing in stocks, underwriting securities, or investing in or acting as guarantors to derivative transactions to prevent American taxpayers from being called upon to fund hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out financial institutions."

Glass-Steagall bills pending in Congress include H.R. 129, "The Return to Prudent Baking Act of 2013," and S. 1282, "The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of 2013."

The move to reinstate Glass-Steagall protections -- disbanded by Congress in 1999 -- has been gaining strength in recent months. Other states with recently introduced Glass-Steagall bills include Rhode Island, New Mexico and Arizona.

Following is a verbatim copy of the Maryland measure:

1 A House Joint Resolution concerning

2 Reinstatement of the Separation of Commercial and Investment Banking 3 Functions

4 FOR the purpose of urging the United States Congress to support efforts to reinstate 5 the separation of commercial and investment banking functions in effect under 6 the Glass–Steagall Act and to support H. R. 129.

7 WHEREAS, An effective money and banking system is essential to the 8 functioning of the economy; and

9 WHEREAS, Such a system must function in the public interest, without bias; 10 and

11 WHEREAS, Since 1933, the Federal Banking Act of 1933, known as the 12 Glass–Steagall Act, protected the public interest in matters dealing with the 13 regulation of commercial and investment banking, in addition to insurance companies 14 and securities; and

15 WHEREAS, The Glass–Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, partially 16 contributing to the greatest speculative bubble and worldwide recession since the 17 Great Depression of 1933; and

18 WHEREAS, The worldwide recession has left millions of homes in foreclosure; 19 and

1 WHEREAS, The worldwide recession has cost the loss of millions of jobs 2 nationwide; and

5 WHEREAS, The United States Senate and the House of Representatives have 6 been making efforts to restore the protections of the Glass–Steagall Act; and

7 WHEREAS, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur has introduced H. R. 129, known as 8 the Return to Prudent Banking Act of 2013, that would revive the separation between 9 commercial banking and the securities business in the manner provided in the 10 Glass–Steagall Act; and

11 WHEREAS, Restoration of the protections of the Glass–Steagall Act has 12 widespread national support from labor organizations, including the American 13 Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO), the 14 American Federation of Teachers, and the International Association of Machinists; 15 from prominent economic and business leaders, including Thomas Hoenig of the 16 Federal Deposit Insurance Company, Sanford Weill, former Chief Executive Officer of 17 Citigroup, and economist Luigi Zingales; and from newspapers, including the New 18 York Times, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Los Angeles Times, and many others; 19 now, therefore, be it

20 RESOLVED, BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That the 21 members of the Maryland General Assembly urge the United States Congress to enact 22 legislation that would reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking 23 functions in effect under the Glass–Steagall Act and that would prohibit commercial 24 banks and bank holding companies from investing in stocks, underwriting securities, 25 or investing in or acting as guarantors to derivative transactions to prevent American 26 taxpayers from being called upon to fund hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out 27 financial institutions; and be it further

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Kenric Ward is a national correspondent and chief of the Virginia Bureau for Watchdog.org. Formerly a reporter and editor at two Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers, Kenric has won dozens of state and national news awards for investigative articles ranging from business to education to politics. Kenric's most recent book is "Saints in Babylon: Mormons and Las Vegas." @KenricWard